Sernova secures commercial rights to stem cell derived technologies

These technologies relate to the development of stem cells into glucose-responsive therapeutic cells for the treatment of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes.

Sernova president and CEO Philip Toleikis said: "This agreement provides us with a proprietary source of stem cell derived glucose responsive therapeutic cells. When placed within Sernova’s prevascularized Cell Pouch(TM), and protected locally from immune system attack, we believe that Sernova has the potential to provide a significant break-through in the quality of treatment for the millions of people suffering from insulin-dependent diabetes.

"Such individuals could essentially be liberated from their current onerous daily regime of multiple blood glucose testing and insulin administration delivered through injections or electronic means which is expected to materially improve their quality of life, prevent or reduce abnormal glucose complications, and reduce short term and longer term health care costs."

The current standard of care for islet transplantation is limited to diabetic patients with severe hypoglycemia unawareness due to both a lack of cadaveric donor islets and a requirement for life-long use of toxic anti-rejection drugs.

Sernova head of research and development Delfina Siroen said: "We believe that a virtually unlimited supply of glucose responsive therapeutic cells could be generated from ethically derived stem cells which, if shown to have positive safety and efficacy in clinical trials, could be used to treat millions of patients.

"The addition of the UHN stem cell technologies moves Sernova one step further toward being able to provide a full solution (device, unlimited cell supply and local immune protection) for cell therapy applications."